Non-abstract devices, systems, and processes for the display and furnishing of tangible benefits

ABSTRACT

A system and method for permitting an entity to more effectively make use of a variety of available demographic-based, geographic-based, psychographic-based, and preference-based targeted benefits from a plurality of goods, services, information, and value providers; wherein the benefits are offered specifically to those entities qualified and/or eligible and/or entitled to receive said benefits, is disclosed. An exemplary method includes: (1) making available a plurality of benefits; (2) examining this plurality of benefits to determine for which benefits entity is qualified or eligible to receive; and (3) providing notification of said “entity-is-qualified-for” benefits. The system includes a memory for storing entity/benefit-seeker information, benefit information with benefit provider information, and benefit correlation information. The system compares the entity information to the benefit information to determine those benefits, if any, to which an entity is qualified to receive.

CROSS-REFERENCED TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a Non-Provisional Continuation Applicationwhich claims priority benefit from U.S. Non-Provisional Continuationapplication Ser. No. 16/501,079 (incorporated herein by reference); nowPat. No. [______]; filed Feb. 19, 2019 and entitled Non-AbstractDevices, Systems, and Processes for the Display and Furnishing ofTangible Benefits; which claims priority benefit from U.S.Non-Provisional Continuation application Ser. No. 15/330,649(incorporated herein by reference); now U.S. Pat. No. 10,482,476 (issuedon Nov. 19, 2019); filed Oct. 24, 2016 and entitled Non-AbstractDevices, Systems, and Processes for the Display and Furnishing ofTangible Benefits; which claims priority benefit from U.S.Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 09/832,440 (incorporated herein byreference); now U.S. Pat. No. 9,576,293 (issued on Feb. 21, 2017); filedApr. 11, 2001 and entitled Method and Apparatus for the Furnishing ofBenefits Information and Benefits; which claims priority benefit fromboth U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/196,335 (incorporated herein byreference), entitled Method and Apparatus for the Furnishing of BenefitsInformation and Benefits, filed on Apr. 12, 2000 and U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 60/211,228 (incorporated herein by reference), entitledMethod and Apparatus for the Furnishing of Benefits Information andBenefits, filed on Jun. 13, 2000. This application is also related toand references Disclosure Document No. 475,569, entitled Method andApparatus for the Furnishing of Benefits Information and Benefits, filedon Jun. 13, 2000. Steve Morsa as sole inventor of all of the proceeding.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Officepatent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rightswhatsoever.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates generally to a method and system for furnishingbenefits and benefits information.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Today, many governmental, non-governmental; and other agencies,organizations, groups, associations, companies, enterprises, andindividuals (collectively, “benefit providers”) offer targeted benefitsof various types to those individuals, families, businesses, non-profitsand charities, educational institutions and others (collectively,benefit-seeking “entities”) whom they deem eligible, qualified andentitled to receive these said targeted benefits. These benefitproviders offer all kinds of useful products, services, programs,assistance, information, money & monetary equivalents, and other“things” of value. These benefits include federal, state, and localentitlements like welfare, food stamps, rent vouchers, employment,unemployment, disability, survivor, retirement; property rehabilitation,modernization and retrofitting; government housing, grants and loans tostart or grow a business; a reduced cost or free education, free orreduced cost research reports, books and materials, transportation,clothing, counseling, etc. Companies large and small offer discounts,giveaways, free premiums, free merchandise, grants, bonuses, and awards.Additional benefits offered by any number of benefit providers includefree or reduced cost legal advice and services; foreclosed real estate;government jobs; police, customs, and other forced sales of personalproperty; reduced interest-rate real estate financing; reduced or zerodown payment real estate loans; tax-sale real and personal property;educational grants, loans, scholarships, fellowships, internships, andawards; free and reduced-cost prescriptions and medical care/treatment;social security benefits; reduced price and financing for cars and othertransportation; traveling and vacationing at reduced cost or for free.In total, there are literally 1000's of public and private sourcesoffering an amazingly wide and diverse collection of such targetedbenefits.

Entities become very interested in and anxious to acquire these benefitswhen informed of their existence yet, currently, information about thesenumerous benefits exist in an extremely fragmented manner and are spreadout across a wide range of informational sources including governmentbooks and manuals; public and private sector/commercial books, tapes,CDs, videos, pamphlets, reports, etc. Libraries, bookstores, andgovernment repositories have carried any number of such benefitinformation resources for some years now. Today, much of thisinformation is even available via the Internet at various government andnon-governmental web sites. Yet, as helpful as these books, materials,and web sites can be in the right hands, they all still share a numberof significant drawbacks which continues to make it difficult or next toimpossible for the intended recipients of these numerous benefits toobtain what is available to them for their use. These problems result ina situation where the potential usefulness of these benefits has beengreatly diminished and compromised.

Problem #1 is a lack of one single source to look to for all benefits.Basically, this important information is not located all in one place.To be sure no benefits were being missed would take days and weeks ofresearch in the library; buying and digging through numerous manuals andbooks (some over 1000 pages long), tapes, CDs, and courses; visiting andresearching web sites; and calling numerous government andnon-governmental agencies, organizations, and companies; even callingelected government representatives and benefit program administrators.Though the rewards for such efforts are substantial, few have the time,energy, or knowledge needed to undertake such a “benefit trek.” As aresult, few do.

Problem #2 is best summarized by quoting the large, bold statementappearing on page three of one of the aforementioned benefit informationbooks, “WARNING: THIS BOOK IS OUT OF DATE.” This book goes on to explainhow information is constantly changing in today's fast-paced world andhow as soon as something is published, it is out of date. It's often sixmonths to a year from the time a writer has finished their book untilit's available for purchase by the benefit-seeking entity. While thistimeline may be acceptable with fiction books, it's a major problem inthe case of “benefit-information” books and materials. Benefit programsare modified or discontinued . . . available funds are used up newprograms are constantly being created . . . benefit provider contactinformation changes, etc. By their very nature, it's simply impossiblefor standard and common printed and audio/visual materials to keep upwith such on-going changes.

Problem #3 is a lack of benefit personalization. While a few benefitsare available to anyone who requests them, the large majority ofbenefits—and many of the most valuable—are designed only to fill theneeds and desires of entities meeting specified qualifications andeligibility requirements as established by the benefit providers. In thecase of an individual and depending on the benefit, such factor(s) couldinclude where that person lives (country, state, county, city, zip code,etc.); whether retired or still working; their sex; renter or owner oftheir residence; marital/family status; with or without children;race/nationality/ancestry/ethnic origin; citizenship status; investmentscurrently or previously held; current or previous employer(s); potentialor actual current business ownership; residency at birth and currently;active or inactive armed forces; year born, occupation; education level;income level; the presence or lack of various physical, mental, healthconditions; even the personal preferences of the entity. Books and othermaterials require the benefit-seeking entity to try and figure out foritself whether or not it may qualify for any particular benefit.Requiring many hours of additional reading and investigation, suchefforts can be difficult and frustrating.

Problem #4 is the painfully large fund and resource expenditures made bymany of the benefit providers in order to locate and notify theirtargeted entities of the existence of one or more benefits for which thetargeted entity may be qualified for. Benefit providers have only twochoices in this regard. Either they can spend little or nothing and hopefor the help of the media and others to “get their message out,” or theycan give up 20% to 50% or more of their valuable funds and resources onadvertising and marketing to try and reach their targeted entities. Bothoptions are inherently problematic; yet both are all too common,negatively impacting both the benefit providers and their targetedentities.

There is a need to provide easily accessible product/service/valuebenefit information (and—particularly in the case of “cash equivalents”such as vouchers, certificates, and the like—the benefits themselves)being offered by multiple benefit providers in real time to targetedentities; which said entities would otherwise find very difficult andtime-consuming to locate and utilize. In this age of often daily benefitfluctuations, it is advantageous to a potential entity to be able tohave accurate, real time information concerning benefit availability. Asbenefits availability and their respective terms, conditions, andeligibility requirements fluctuate, the importance to the entity ofbeing able to respond to these fluctuations on a timely basis increases.

An entity could then decide in real time whether to apply for andutilize one or more available benefits while they are still available tosaid entity.

Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a system wherebygovernment and non-government product, service, program, assistance,information, value, and other benefit providers could supply theirbenefits in a manner which allows qualifying entities to moreadvantageously make use of such benefits. It is a further object of thisinvention to supply benefit providers with a marketing medium wherebyentities seeking specific benefits may be made aware of modifications tobenefits, discontinuances of benefits, and the availability of newbenefits; all on very short notice; done automatically via a pluralityof various “instant messaging/notification” devices/instrumentalities.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is designed to provide an entity with real timebenefit information, from a variety of benefit providers, in a formatthat is understandable and informative. The present invention is uniquein that never before has there been a network system that conducts asearch of multiple sources of benefit information, in substantially realtime, and presents the results to the user in one organizedpresentation.

The present invention is a sophisticated computerized system by whichgathered benefit information from a plurality of benefit providers maybe electronically connected to a computer network. Value added softwareis provided at the network to assimilate the data collected from variousand multiple benefit providers in substantially real time, to place thedata in an understandable format for preferably a single presentation tothe benefit seeking entity. The entity receives the assimilated datafrom the various and multiple benefit providers through an electronicconnection (via modems) between the entity's computer and the network Aprogram on the entity's computer can capture the formatted data suppliedby the network and prepare it for display or analysis. In an alternateconfiguration the benefit providers are electronically connected to aregional host. The regional host is then electronically connected to thecomputer network. The system of the present invention has manyadvantages over known benefit acquisition methods.

First, the present invention offers a “real time” picture of availablebenefits from multiple and varied benefit providers. Second, the presentinvention allows the display in “real time” of only those benefits forwhich an entity is (or appears to be) qualified to receive. Third, thepresent invention allows benefit providers to reduce or eliminate theoften substantial costs of bringing their benefits to the attention ofthose entities qualified to receive them. Fourth, the present inventionoffers the capability to an entity of acquiring various benefitproviders' benefits information, the benefit provider contactinformation, and the actual benefits themselves; all in oneunderstandable and usable format that is currently not available viaother methods.

A system and method is also disclosed for allowing an entity to discoverwhat benefits said entity would be qualified to receive if entity datacontained one or more inaccurate, “phantom” data factors, e.g., anincorrect current entity location; which could help entity to decidewhether or not to relocate to a new city, state, area, country, etc.;entity's decision of whether or not to move then wisely based at leastin part on the benefits available to entity at the contemplated newlocation.

A method according to this alternate embodiment includes: (1) creatingan alias location record based on the new location entity iscontemplating moving to; and (2) making available the resultant aliasbenefit information for entity's viewing.

A system and method is also disclosed for allowing an entity to discoverwhat benefits an entity other than said entity is qualified to receive.An example of this would be an adult man whose mother is blind, infirm,or otherwise unable to make use of the system on her own. By allowingthe son to input the needed entity data of his mother, the potentiallyimportant and valuable benefits for which the mother qualifies for canbe readily obtained.

A method according to this alternative embodiment includes: (1) creatingan alias set of entity data based on someone other than a given entity;and (2) making available the resultant alias benefit information forgiven said entity.

The use of other phantom entity data in this or similar manners willreveal additional benefit information which will also prove useful andvaluable to entity.

Further aspects of the present invention will become apparent during thecourse of the following description and by reference to the attacheddrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a benefit information distribution systemaccording to an implementation of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the components of a central controller usedby the benefit information distribution system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of an operation of the benefit informationdistribution system to process requests for benefit information; and

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the components of abenefit-information/benefit acquisition and distribution systemaccording to an implementation of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to an implementation of the presentinvention illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible,the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings and thefollowing description to refer to the same or like parts.

Standard components preferably include conventional computers;telecommunication and data communication services; and input and outputdevices such as telephones, computer terminals, printers, and facsimilemachines. The architecture for and procedures to implement data handlingamong these machines, however, are not conventional, as they provide fordistribution of benefit information and benefits.

According to the present invention, a computerized system is shown inFIG. 1 which permits entities to more effectively make use of a varietyof available benefits from a plurality of goods, services, information,and value benefit providers.

As used herein, the term “benefits” shall be understood to mean anydiscounted rate or any other added value available to an entity inaddition to those otherwise offered to the general public, businesses,non-profits and charities, governments, educational institutionsfamilies, and any other entities. “Entities” shall be understood to meanindividuals, businesses, non-profits, charities, governments,educational facilities, and families; including any and all otheragencies, groups, organizations, enterprises, etc.; and also includingtwo or more of any of these entities acting together and in concert withone another.

The invention allows entities to make advantageous use of such benefitsoffered by benefit providers by correlating the specific benefitsoffered with the demographic, geographic, psychographic, and preferencedata for each entity.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of benefit information distribution system 100according to an implementation of the present invention. As illustrated,system 100 includes user location 105, public switched telephone network110, and central controller 200. User location 105 includes a user inputdevice 120, which, as illustrated, may be a computer. User location 105also includes a user output device 150, which, as illustrated, may be acomputer terminal. Those skilled in the art will recognize that userinput device 120 may be any electronic input device connectable tocentral controller 200, such as a telephone, facsimile machine, TV withset-top box (Web TV, etc.), cell phone, PDA, or a touch-screen displayor other graphical user interface (GUI) for connecting to centralcontroller 200 via public switched telephone network 110. Similarly,user device 150 may be any type of output device such as a printer,facsimile machine, TV, cell phone, PDA, etc. Output device 150 alsorepresents an e-mail address, website, or the like, to which centralcontroller 200 may send requested information. Although a single userinput device and single user output device is shown in FIG. 1, it is tobe understood that any number of user input devices and user outputdevices could be coupled to an appropriate central controller 200. It isto be additionally understood that input device 120 and output device150 may be one in the same device as in the case of a computer,telephone, cell phone, PDA, etc.

Public switched telephone network 110 is a conventional public switchedtelephone network of the type operated by telephone companies like AT&T,MCI, General Telephone Sprint, etc.

Lastly, central controller 200 includes a conventional server computersystem that responds in near real time to requests for storedinformation. Central controller 200 also executes software to store andmanage benefit information related to benefit providers; and todistribute the stored information upon request.

As shown in FIG. 1, an entity/user transmits a request using user inputdevice 120. The request initiates a process to locate, retrieve, andtransmit to the entity/user benefit information which entity qualifiesto take advantage of.

Central controller 200 receives the user's request via public switchedtelephone network 110. Central controller 200 determines whether anybenefit information 140 corresponding to the received benefitinformation request 130 exists. If so, central controller 200 retrievesthe requested benefit information from a benefit information database,and sends the retrieved benefit information 140 to a user-specifiedlocation, such as user output device 150. Those skilled in the art willrecognize that user input device 120 and user output device 150 may beat different locations, in which case the request transmitted to centralcontroller 200 would include an identity and/or location of user outputdevice 150 to which benefit information should be sent. Additionally, asdiscussed below, users pre-register with central controller 200 beforeit will provide requested benefit information. As part of theregistration process, the users may specify a preferred output device towhich central controller 200 will transmit any requested benefitinformation.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the components of central controller 200.Central controller 200 is connectable to a conventional networkinterface device 235, to connect central controller 200 to publicswitched telephone network 110. At the heart of central controller 200is CPU 205. CPU 205 connects to RAM 215, ROM 220, and storage device245. CPU 205 represents one or more suitable microprocessors (such asthe Pentium® processor manufactured by Intel Corporation) or otherelectronic processing unit as is well known to those skilled in the art.RAM 215 and ROM 220 are also conventional. CPU 205, RAM 215, and ROM 220are used in conventional ways to process requests for benefitinformation in accordance with stored instructions, i.e., computersoftware.

Storage device 245 is a conventional mass storage device such as a harddisk. It may also include multiple mass storage devices, including bothread-write devices and write-once read many times devices like opticaldisk drives or other suitable medium. Storage device 245 includes arequest processor 247 and multiple databases 250-270.

Request processor 247 constitutes computer software executed by CPU 205for processing the requests for benefit information. Using informationmaintained by databases 250-270, CPU 205 processes requests for benefitinformation in accordance with instructions of request processor 247.

Storage device 245 also includes a benefit information database 250, anentity/user information database 260, and a correlation database 270.Databases 250-270 may include various types of database structures. Thepreferred database structure is a relational database because itprovides rapid responses to requests for benefit information.

In general, benefit information database 250 stores benefit informationoffered by a plurality of goods, services, information, and valuebenefit providers. It generally includes a list of the certain specificgovernments, agencies, organizations, companies, etc. which are makingavailable one or more certain specific benefits for targetedentities/users. Database 250 benefit information may be (1) gathered viaphone, mail, FAX, e-mail, an internet, web sites, etc. from the benefitproviders and/or (2) inputted directly into database 250 throughelectronic or other means by the benefit providers themselves and/or (3)gathered from or inputted directly by some other third-partyintermediary acting on behalf of the benefit providers. Entity/Userinformation database 260 contains demographic, geographic,psychographic, and preference data information on entity/users who haveregistered to receive benefit information. Lastly, correlation database(or sub-database) 270 contains detailed specific information for eachbenefit offered by each benefit provider that permits CPU 205 to, (1)determine whether a particular benefit is or may be available for thepossible use by a particular entity, and (2) to readily retrievecorrelation data for a specifically identified benefit. It is to beunderstood that any suitable electronic or other suitable means can beutilized for coupling CPU 205 to ROM 220, RAM 215, storage device 245,and network interface 235.

Significantly, in a preferred embodiment, the system is particularlyadvantageous in that it does not need and can be designed to omitgenerally unpopular, privacy-invasive entity/user identificationinformation in order to provide the desired benefit information toentity/user. In such a preferred embodiment, the benefit informationdesired by user is readily supplied without user's name, social securitynumber, street address, and other such “private” information beingrevealed by the entity/user. Alternatively, some or all of this“private” information may be required in order to obtain at least someof the entity/user desired benefit information and/or the benefitsthemselves.

The various hardware requirements for the system as described herein cangenerally be satisfied by any one of many commercially available highspeed personal computers offered by companies such as Dell, Compaq, IBM,or Apple. The specific electronic and magnetic hard drive memoryrequirements for the system depend upon the volume of benefits to betracked by the system as well as the number of entity users. Likewise,processing speed can be chosen to provide a suitable combination ofspeed and cost effectiveness for the anticipated demands to be placedupon the system. Alternatively, any other type of computer withsufficient processing speed and memory capability can also be used forthe purposes of the invention

In a preferred embodiment, the system can be designed to operate withany specifically chosen computer operating system such as Windows, MSDOS, Linux, UNIX, MAC OS, etc. In this regard, it should be understoodthat the system as disclosed herein is an “application program” whichcan be designed to operate with practically any conventional andcommercially available computer operating system. Further, the system asdesigned herein can be implemented by any programmer of ordinary skillin the art using commercially available development tools for theoperating systems described above.

It should be understood that the specific input data required to obtainbenefit information can be varied as necessary, provided such data issufficient to allow processor 205 to accurately obtain correlatedbenefit data. Information relating to entities, benefits, benefitproviders, and correlation data may be arranged in storage device 245 inany convenient format or form. Suitable data structures and searchroutines for accomplishing this purpose are well within the knowledge ofthose of ordinary skill in the art. Any suitable data structures andsearch routine may be used, provided that it enables processor 205 tosearch for and locate correlated benefit information applicable to aspecific entity/user.

Accordingly, no attempt shall be made herein to describe all of thevarious organizational methods and programming techniques by which suchinformation can be arranged and retrieved. Instead, FIG. 2 merely showsone possible example of a manner in which the information could beorganized for use in connection with the invention.

In a preferred embodiment, the system is capable of identifying benefitinformation formatted such that the user's benefits are listed underspecific classes or categories such as: “Housing,” “Education,”“Medical,” “Employment,” “Travel,” “New (benefits),” etc. Alternatively,the benefits may be listed according to their value to the user, thecosts (if any) to utilize the benefits, ease of use of the benefits,expiration dates of the benefits, physical proximity of the user to thebenefit providers, etc.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of the general procedure 300 used by centralcontroller 200 to provide benefit information using databases 250-270.Central controller 200 first receives a request for benefit informationfrom a user input device such as a computer or telephone (step 305).Central controller 200 uses the input information to retrieve anybenefit information from benefit information database 250 and benefitcorrelation database 270 (step 310). Central controller 200 then outputsthe located benefit information to a specified user output device (step315). The output device may be specified by the user as part of theinitial request for benefit information or an output device specifiedfor the user in user information database 260. Further, centralcontroller 200 charges user's credit or debit card(s) and updatesbilling information in user information database 260 to reflect the“purchase” (transmission) of requested benefit information.

It is to be understood that numerous other alternative charging/billingand income-generation methods may be used without detracting from thescope of the present invention, e.g.; supported by users via periodicsubscription (“X” dollars per month, per year, etc.), flat-fee per use,per time interval (by the minute, hour, etc.), per benefit(s) received,a percentage of benefit(s) utilized, “900” caller/user pay phone number,etc.; and/or supported via one or more of the benefit providers on a perbenefit viewed, per-benefit utilized basis, etc.; and/or supported viacommon online/offline advertising and marketing revenue sources;optionally including ads and marketing messages placed within the bodyof personalized/customized printed, electronically stored, etc. benefitinformation “storage” devices (books, CDs, floppy disks, hard drives,etc.).

Alternatively, one or more benefit information listings and/or benefitsand/or access to one or more entity/users and/or access to one or morebenefit providers could be made available at no cost to one or more ofthe benefit providers and/or at no cost to one or more of theentity/users.

Suitable revenue structures and income generation methodologies for usein conjunction with the present invention are well within the knowledgeof those of ordinary skill in the art. Accordingly, no attempt shall bemade herein to describe all of the various income generation andcharging/billing techniques which may be used in conjunction with thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the components of abenefit-information/benefit acquisition and distribution system 400. Asshown in FIG. 4, central controller 200 may receive a plurality ofbenefit information from a plurality of benefit providers (operatingfrom a plurality of locations) 410. These 411-419 benefit providers areshown listed by class (“Federal/National Gov't 411,” “State/ProvinceGov't 412,” “City/County Gov't 413,” etc.), but may also include anyentity of any form or type which is offering one or more targetedbenefits to one or more benefit seeking entities. Central controller 200may be further connected by electronic or other means to a plurality ofuser input/output devices (operating from a plurality of locations) 420.These 421-429 devices may be of the type shown (“Computer 421,”“Telephone 422,” “FAX machine 423,” etc.), but may also include anydevice capable of allowing the system user to input the requisite entitydata and receive the resultant benefit information output; optionallyincluding said output to printing-enabled devices for the creation of acustomized/personalized physically printed (report, book, etc.) orelectronically printed (floppy-disk, CD, etc.) or electronically orotherwise stored (within a computer hard drive, etc.) permanent recordof said benefit information. A plurality of benefit-seeking system users(located in a plurality of locations) 430 may be listed by “entity type”as shown in FIG. 4 (“Individuals 431,” “Businesses 432,” “Governments433,” etc.); but these benefit-seekers 431-437 may also include anyentity type desiring to discover what, if any, benefits said entityqualifies for.

In one embodiment, the system is capable of allowing benefit provider(s)410 to, where practicable, deliver their benefits directly throughcentral controller 200 to benefit-seeking users 430 via printing-enabledinput/output devices 420. Generally, this is possible when the benefitsprovided include checks; monetary equivalents such as food stamps,certificates, coupons, rebates and the like; as well as“informational”-type benefits such as reports, books, etc.; andincluding floppy disks, CDs, etc. (where the benefit can be transmittedto and stored electronically).

It is to be understood that where terms such as “Federal,” “State,”“City,” etc. are used in 410 in relation to governments that equivalentterms depending on the government entity(ies) applicable to a givensystem user are also included in the invention.

In another embodiment, central controller 200 may be utilized to assistsystem user 430 in obtaining one or more of the benefits 410 userqualifies for. This could include supplying any application or otherforms required by the benefit providers in order to receive theiroffered benefits, assist in the completion and submission of said forms,etc. Such assistance is likely to further increase the already obviousadvantages the present invention offers.

In a preferred embodiment, the system includes means to notify systemusers, via suitably enabled input/output devices 420, of anymodification or elimination of existing benefits; or the availability ofany new benefits; or the pending modification or elimination of existingbenefits or pending availability of new benefits. In this way users 430will be constantly kept up to date on the benefit(s) or benefitclass(es) most important to them.

Another significant advantage of the present invention, besides theabove obvious benefits, is the opportunity for the above-describedsystem 100 to itself become a benefit provider. It may do so by havingthe system operator negotiate directly with benefit providers to offertheir benefits to the system's entity/user database.

Thanks to the relatively short lead times required, an additionalfurther advantage of the system is its ability to offer and providebenefits which may be created on short notice simply by adding thebenefits and their corresponding correlation information to centralcontroller 200. This would enable both benefit providers and benefitseekers to take advantage of short-term opportunities and changingconditions. As an example, a city government might realize that afirst-time homebuyer loan program they're offering is about to expirewith unused funds still in the account.

The city could liberalize the terms/conditions of the loan programsufficiently to quickly induce, especially by utilizing the abovedescribed user update notification system, a sufficient number ofadditional buyers to use up the remainder of these targeted funds. Thisadvantage of the system reveals another related advantage of the system;namely that benefit providers are now able to, when desired, “fine tune”the amount of—and rate of use of—their benefits simply by varying theterms and conditions of their benefits as needed in order to better meetthe intentions and disbursement goals set for these benefits. Againusing the above city loan program example; if the funds were still notbeing used up quickly enough with the first interest rate cut, the citycould reduce the interest rate another ½% and/or reduce the associatedloan fees in order to induce even more buyers to quickly utilize thecity's loan program. Through this marketplace-sensitive, quasi-“benefit-auction” use of the system, the common problems of “left overmoney/benefits” and “more qualified benefit seekers than money/benefitsavailable to supply them” can effectively be remedied.

Example

An example of the present invention in use for a given entity will helpbetter explain the unique aspects of the invention. In this briefscenario, the entity is an individual named “Dawn,” an Internet surferwho has recently signed on the service provided in accordance with thepresent invention and who now is seeking to find out what benefits sheis entitled to receive. Dawn logs her computer onto the network hostutilizing interface management software provided by the network host (ordials into system via her telephone). Dawn then completes a personalprofile questionnaire asking her for demographic, psychographic,geographic, and preference data. These may include such questions asDawn's city or zip code, her income, marital/familial status, education,housing (renter, owner); type of housing: apartment, single-family home,co-op, townhome; birth date, nationality, occupation, any medicalconditions or health needs, etc.; as well as her personal hopes, dreams,and interests/preferences.

Upon her submission of this profile (e.g., by “clicking” on theindicated “submit request” or similar icon; or via telephone by speakingwith a live “operator,” or via an interactive voice response unit[IVUR]), etc., the interface formats these parameters and transmits herrequest for benefits to the network host. The network host, throughnetwork software, accesses the network database(s); which is (are)updated in substantially real time with previously gathered benefitinformation concerning various benefits available from various benefitproviders. The network host then processes the information into a usableprotocol that enables the entity interface management software toprovide the data to Dawn in an appropriate presentation. Dawn's computer(or telephone, FAX machine, etc.) then receives the processedinformation from the network host and displays the benefit informationfor her in real time.

For example, the benefits she qualifies for could include a zero-downpayment, first-time home-buyer program offered by her city or state(helpful since she's tired of renting and is getting married soon),printing off the loan application and accompanying city certificate forher probable use; a possible job with the city fire department (could bean interesting career); an SBA micro-loan program for womenentrepreneurs (maybe starting her own business is the way to go) aninternship at the local college (in case she wants to further hereducation), the in-depth details of which she carefully reviews on hercomputer screen; a promising new treatment for Alzheimer's disease (goodnews for her elderly father), information about which she e-mailforwards to her dad; notice of an upcoming customs sale (Dawn's heardthere's some real money to be made reselling that stuff); a great dealat the local music store on a new piano (she's always wanted to takelessons); a federally-sponsored program that buys up old “clunker” carsto reduce air pollution (her smog-belching car is on its last legs); areduced-rate, new-car loan program available from the local cardealership for recent college grads (she'll have to replace her clunkersomehow), details about which she stores to a floppy disk; federalprescription program for the infirm (something her aunt could reallyuse); a local program to help working single moms afford quality daycarefor their kids (the kind of program her sister really needs), the statevoucher for which she prints off and gives to her sister; notice of nextmonth's upcoming county tax defaulted real estate sale (to go along withher zero down home loan), which list of properties Dawn stores to herhard drive; and a “two-for-one” ticket sale at the local opera (could bejust the incentive needed to get Dawn's fiancé to at least give opera achance), the coupon for which she prints off to take with her to theopera house.

Optionally, Dawn may request real time updates of the benefitinformation via such means as e-mail, FAX, pager, hard-line orweb-enabled phone, PDA (Personal Digital Assistants such as the Palm®),etc. Then, the benefit information applicable to her will beautomatically updated as the information gathered from the benefitproviders is updated. Such updates may also occur as, for example, dueto the passage of time as when Dawn reaches various ages; since a numberof benefits are generally known to be at least partially age-based. Inaddition, Dawn's profile may be adjusted and updated from time to timeby Dawn and/or the system operator. The result is that Dawn has realtime or near real time access in a readily understandable format, on asingle display screen (or other single “benefit touch point”) of all thebenefits for which she is qualified to receive. Regardless of thesource(s) of those benefit(s).

The service provided by the present invention can be offered with avariety of entity-pay and/or benefit providers-pay and/oradvertisers/sponsors-pay options; or can be offered free to the entityand/or free to one or more of the benefit providers.

The many features and advantages of the present invention are apparentfrom the detailed specification, and thus, it is intended by the claimsto cover all such features and advantages of the invention which fallwithin the true spirit and scope of the present invention.

While the invention has been described in connection with what ispresently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment,it is understood that the invention is not to be limited to thedisclosed embodiment. This description is not intended to be exhaustiveor to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. For example,although the preferred instantiation of the equipment or “viewer” theentity/user uses to communicate with comprises a general-purpose desktopcomputer or the like, other equipment (e.g., a television with set-topbox, telephone, FAX machine, or a dedicated display device) could beused instead. Moreover, although the preferred instantiation of the“viewer” is connected to the other components of system 100 via thepublic switched phone network 110, other forms and sub-forms ofconnection (e.g., an internet, cable TV, satellite/electronic broadcast,on-line systems, local-area networks, wide-area networks; as well as viaphysically distributed and individualized/personalized “books,” “floppy”disks, CD-ROMS, etc.) are also readily supported.

The present invention thus provides a practical and economicallyfeasible system for benefit providers to provide their benefits to thosetargeted entities qualified/eligible/entitled to receive them; while atthe same time allowing benefit seekers to finally have access to (andoptimally, to use) up to all the many benefits for which they'requalified/eligible/entitled to receive. This is accomplished byproviding both benefit providers and benefit seekers with a simple meansand mechanism to more quickly, easily, and efficiently come together forthe mutual benefit of both.

Furthermore, since numerous modifications and variations will readilyoccur to those skilled in the arts once this invention is known to thearts, it is not desired that the present invention be limited to theexact construction, operation, and implementation illustrated anddescribed herein, and accordingly, all suitable modifications andequivalents which may be resorted to are intended to fall within thespirit and scope of the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. Non-abstract means for matching an entity withtangible benefits.